The National Quality Forum’s (NQF) Leadership Consortium’s 2022 Priorities for Action include social determinant of health (SDOH) data collection, promoting clinician and care team well-being, and measurement of person-centered care.
The Leadership Consortium is a convening of NQF members who are leaders in the field to connect, collaborate, and share insights on the nation’s most complex healthcare issues. NQF convenes the Leadership Consortium annually to identify national health and healthcare priorities for collaboration and coordination.
Noting that the priorities are rooted in health equity, clinician experience, and patient and caregiver experience, the Leadership Consortium said they present achievable opportunities for all stakeholders to improve the care experience and health outcomes for every person in America.
Priority One: Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) Data Collection: NQF notes that to date studies show a low uptake of coding for SDOH in electronic health records and claims data. The Leadership Consortium recommends NQF convene multi-stakeholder experts in a learning collaborative or action team to advance the collection and use of SDOH data through the dissemination of emerging and best practices. Healthcare organizations can utilize advancements in SDOH data collection to identify vulnerable patients, assess disparities in care, deliver targeted services, and monitor success in advancing health equity.
Priority Two: Promoting Clinician and Care Team Well-Being: While many healthcare organizations have existing efforts to promote well-being and prevent burnout, NQF notes that few of them know how to best measure clinician wellness. The Leadership Consortium recommends NQF convene a strategy session with a multi-stakeholder expert panel to identify measure concepts for the evaluation and improvement of clinician and care team well-being. By measuring and assessing clinician and care team well-being, healthcare stakeholders will be better equipped to identify opportunities to implement viable interventions, measure meaningful change, and improve their well-being and retention.
Priority Three: Measurement of Person-Centered Care: While systems for measuring patient experiences such as AHRQ's Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) program exist in a variety of care settings, there is widespread consensus that challenges remain in assessing whether care is person-centered. Recent shifts toward care that is person-centered and focused on outcomes have highlighted the importance of measuring the success of high-quality care from the perspective of the patient with the goal of improving outcomes, experience of care, and population health. The Leadership Consortium recommends NQF convene multi-stakeholder experts to identify actionable strategies to address these challenges and better evaluate the delivery of person-centered care. As strategies to implement person-centered care continue to evolve, healthcare leaders should identify measures and measure concepts that incorporate communication, coordination, and shared decision making, and their impact on patient outcomes, as key facets to measuring the success of person-centered care.
